A federal judge has refused to throw out the civil rights lawsuit filed by a Texas journalist arrested over a satirical Facebook meme and declined to grant qualified immunity to the sheriff and investigator who put him in jail.
Chief US District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled on July 20 that Kolton Krottinger’s suit can move forward against Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds and former deputy James Luckie.
We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here.
O’Connor wrote that Krottinger “sufficiently alleged that Luckie and Sheriff Deeds violated his clearly established rights to be free from arrest without probable cause, malicious prosecution, and First Amendment Retaliation.”
The ruling keeps alive claims of First Amendment retaliation, unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, and Fourth Amendment violations.
Qualified immunity shields officers from suit unless they broke rights already clearly established in law, and it ends most cases of this kind before they reach discovery. O’Connor found that Krottinger cleared that bar.
Krottinger, a 36-year-old Navy veteran, runs several Hood County news pages on Facebook and a nonprofit, Anxiety Solutions of America, that operates a 21-acre ranch for veterans and first responders. Governor Greg Abbott named him an honorary admiral of the Texas Navy in January 2025.
His arrest traces to a satire image posted to a satirical page called Hood County Sheepdogs during a Granbury school board race. The meme made it look as though Tina Brown, a regular speaker at county commissioners’ meetings, had endorsed a candidate she actually opposed. Brown reported the post on October 6, saying she had not made it.
C.J. Grisham, a First Amendment attorney representing Krottinger, said the meme was meant “to poke fun at the two people who can’t stand each other…endorsing that person. That’s the joke of it.”
Investigators traced the page to Krottinger’s phone. On November 5, the day after the election, Luckie arrested him on a third-degree felony charge of online impersonation under Texas Penal Code 33.07. He was booked into jail and released on a $10,000 bond that barred him from using social media. Deputies seized his phone without a warrant.
The case fell apart fast. A justice of the peace discharged the charge for lack of probable cause, and Ellis County District Attorney Lindy Beaty rejected the prosecution on December 22, citing insufficient evidence. Hood County District Attorney Ryan Sinclair had recused himself, claiming a conflict because he served on the board of Krottinger’s nonprofit. Krottinger’s attorneys dispute that, saying Sinclair had turned down an offer to join.
Krottinger filed suit in January. Attorneys Brandon Grable and C.J. Grisham brought the case in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, naming Deeds, Luckie, and Sinclair in their personal capacities along with Hood County. The complaint alleges violations of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments, warrantless seizure of a working journalist’s phone, and breaches of the federal Privacy Protection Act. It describes the prosecution as a “coordinated effort to silence a political critic.” The arrest came one day after an election in which Krottinger had been active.
“This lawsuit sends a clear message,” Krottinger said. “The people will not be bullied, silenced, or intimidated by abuse of power. We see it. We remember it. And we will hold them accountable.”
Grisham said the felony charge over a joke defied belief. “It’s crazy that you can share a meme in the United States of America…and be thrown in jail,” he said.
The phone deputies took from him has not been returned.
